Wednesday, February 8, 2012

My House is Like a Cake and Now I need that Icing Baby! Plus Free Printable!

*** I'm going to give this blog a real facelift soon so bare with me for a bit till I'm done with it. Blogger has some pretty neat blog templates huh? =D

Sometimes when you wake up and you don't need to be anywhere, do you just sit in bed and think? I do. I think a lot of us do. And that's just what I did this morning. I thought about my blogs, the things I could do with them, fun topics, design idea's, all the fun stuff involved in running a blog. My heart felt a little sad when I thought about this little blog of mine though.

I've been mostly focusing on my photography business/blog the last couple of months and I've been slacking over here. I asked myself "why?". Why have I lost my passion for DIY? That's when it hit me: My house is like a cake and I've been so busy focusing on getting the cake just right that I haven't even bothered icing it up a little bit and enjoying it.

Let me explain. When I say the "cake" and the "Icing", I mean stuff like building our mantle, putting in flooring, putting in shelving units is the "Cake" part. The real basic stuff that makes a house look nice. And the "icing" is decorating. Putting your finger print on it and making it stand out with your personal touch.

I haven't decorated barely at all for a year and some now. Decorating means nesting to me. I haven't really nested in this house yet. I haven't really put our touch in it. For the most part it's been a house with furniture in it with some little decor here and there. Well, It's time to ice this sucker up a little! The cake still needs work but I need something a little sweeter and that's what I'm going to focus on for a little bit.

So, my first icing project is gettin some awesomeness up on these walls! First room: the living-room.

It went from this

(Emtpy, cold, ickyness)

To This!

(Oh look! Someone lives here!)

Lets look a little closer....

Although it looks a bit thrown together there are some little design rules that I played by. First let me explain my evolving style here. I love clean beautiful cohesive looks and lines. But I'm also pretty eclectic in the stuff I like. I really wish I could keep to pastel oceany blues, and whites, with silver highlights thrown in but at this point I just can't! So I'm trying to go for a clean eclectic feel instead.

Lets break down how I designed it: I used mostly straight lines all around the outer part except for everything that is on the shelf. There I used varying heights, textures and colors to keep the eye interested. Both straight lines, and different heights are pleasing to the eye so I mixed the two styles up. That's me, always wanting it both ways. =)

Where and how I got the Art:

My Watercolor:

This was really easy to make! I love color and abstract art but I didn't want to spend the money. So I made my own. It's water colors on water color paper. All I did was pick out a yellow, coral, and light orange and paint them in a circle motion, watering down my brush as I moved outward in the circle. I also did them in layers, making the circles smaller as I moved down. So I did the yellow first, then orange, then the coral. Whatever color you want to stand out the most, make sure it's the last layer you do and make sure you let each layer dry before starting the next one.

Atlas Frame:

I used this frame I got at a Garage sale and then popped in these Vintage Map Postcards that I picked up at Papyrus.

I LOVE the Free Art Project! Every month a new artists donates a piece of their work for everyone to have for free! All I did was upload the images I liked to my Costco photo center, had them printed as 4x6's, and BAM! A ton of free art. I found the frame in a free pile on the side of the road. It has no back and no front glass but I knew I could do something cool like this with it. All I did was run 2 lines of wire across the back so I could hang my pieces of art with clothes pins. <3!!

The "&" Sign:

I have a little love affair with the "&" sign. It just makes my heart a little excited for some reason! And I have an ever growing love for typography pretty much. This is another piece I made. Super easy once again! I got this linen canvas board at my local art store. Then I went online and google image searched "Ampersand", and picked the one I liked the most. Then I got it to the size I wanted, printed it, cut it out and traced around it onto my canvas. From there I just painted it in and there it is. Easy peasy!

U + Me = Home, Free Printable:

And for the last thing I made! I have a small collection of free printables on my Pinterest and I was looking for something for me and my hubs and our home. Something that would show my love for my hubs and the life we share. There are a lot of AWESOME signs out there (and I have a ton of them pinned) but I thought of this and went with it. This is another Ikea frame. I made these, printed them out, and I have a little piece of my sentimental heart hangin on my wall now.

And in honor of all the awesome bloggers, artists, and all around creative people who make awesome free printables for all to have so they can put a little love in their homes on the cheap, I wanted to give this little printable set away as well in the hopes that it might help others get into "Icing" their "cake" too. You could get a frame like this one at Ikea still I believe or you could get 5 individual frames and hang them vertical, horizontal, diagonal. Lots of fun ideas.

Directions to Save:Simply right click on each image, select "View Image", then right click on the image and save to wherever you want on your computer and print away!.

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My name is Andrea Berggren and I heart crafts and just about any creative avenue! I'm wife to my wonderful huby Mike and a photographer. We just bought our first home and we are DIYing just about everything. Between creating the home we've dreamed of, family, and bein a crafty chica, I hope to invite y'all into my world. So kick your feet up and have a look around.

I love new faces around here. Thanks for following! =)

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{Copyright Love}

All images and shared content here on Blue.Lace.House is CopyRight 2011/2012 by yours truly, Andrea Berggren, unless otherwise stated. I reserve all the rights to my work as well so please be sure to be super awesome and link back to me if ya choose to use any of my images/content. Thank y'all and happy crafting!